Oil jacketed finisher/bottler

[wmick]

Just a little redneck millwright brainstorming here...
I've been reading and dreaming about the water jacketed bottlers... I understand the concept, and would likely attempt to build my own at some point...
But it got me thinking... Why not use oil for the jacket, rather than water. It will not evaporate, and can take very high temperatures, without degrading.
It is widely used for a heat-transfer fluid in industrial applications. and there are grades specifically designed for this purpose.
Then, that got me thinking... Maybe this could be used as a finisher as well... As you could easily take the oil up to 300+ degrees..
A little research shows me that Beer Brewers use oil-jacketed kettles to boil beer, so the concept is sound...
What do you think??

[whity]

Water is free. Oil can get expensive. Plus you don't need extreme heat. No more then 190 degrees. 300 is far to much heat.

[Road's End]

One of the major points of the water jacket is that it doesn't get too hot and boil the syrup, which causes more niter to form. I would think using oil and going beyond 212 would defeat the purpose of a jacketed canner all together.

[wmick]

Yep understood...
For Canning water works great.... I was thinking that with oil, it could be set at 190 for canning... Or it could double as a finishing pan as well, setting the temperature higher..
Really just a brain fart... Not enough to think about apparently.. :cool:

[RileySugarbush]

Not a bad idea, but as a bottler there is no big advantage and you need to deal with oil without contaminating your syrup. As a finisher, you would have a pretty poor boil rate with only 80° F differential temperature. Granted it would be over the full surface of the pot, but that can be a disadvantage too if the inner pot is not full.

Nice thinking!

[Michael Greer]

One advantage to using oil is that you wouldn't need to worry about the unit freezing if left out in a cold sugarhouse.